You don't need to do this if you have a board with 8MB or larger flash. It's only needed for 4MB boards.
CircuitPython 10 will change the flash storage layout on Espressif boards with 4MB flash, to allow for larger CircuitPython builds with more features. CircuitPython 10.0.0-alpha.5 makes this change only for the Adafruit Feather ESP32-S3 4MB Flash 2MB PSRAM board, as a trial. Later, the change will be made for all boards.
This page describes how to update your bootloader to use the new storage layout.
Originally, these 4MB boards had two "ota" (over-the-air) partitions. One contained the CIrcuitPython firmware, and the other was empty, to be used as to update the firmware "over the air". However, that functionality was never fully developed, and the space consumed by the unused partition limited the firmware size of CIrcuitPython. The smaller partition size limited the features that could be included.
This diagram shows the old and new partition layout, and how the two partitions are combined into one.
CIRCUITPY will be erased during this procedure. Save anything you need that is in CIRCUITPY.
Install the Updated TinyUF2 Bootloader on your Board
To update the TinyUF2 bootloader for your board, go to the Factory Reset section in this guide, and follow the instructions for UF2 Bootloader Installation/Repair. You will find a TinyUF2 bootloader listed for 4MB boards for CircuitPython 10.0.0.
Load a CircuitPython 10 build onto your board
After you've successfully loaded the new bootloader, when you double-click the Reset button, a ...BOOT drive should appear, such as FTHRS3BOOT. The INFO_UF2.TXT file in that drive should show that it's version 0.31.0 or later. At this point you can load the CircuitPython .uf2 file for your board as usual.
Note that this TinyUF2 upgrade is upward compatible with CircuitPython 9.1.0 and later, so if you need to go back to, say, CircuitPython 9.2.8 from CircuitPython 10, you don't need to reinstall the TinyUF2 bootloader.
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